Verification of Results That Logically Related
Noninteractive Literatures Are Potential Sources of New Knowledge

Sir:

In the article "Two Medical Literatures that are Logically but not Bibliographically
Connected," I showed how two noninteracting sets of articles together implied
that dietary fish oil might benefit Raynaud patients, a hypothesis not
previously proposed (JASIS 38(4) 228ó233, 1987.) The complete medical
argument was published in the biomedical literature in 1986. A controlled
clinical trial of dietary fish oil in 32 Raynaud patients was recently
reported by researchers at the Albany Medical College (Ralph Digiacomo,
Joel Kremer, Dhiraj Shah, Arthritis and Rheumatism
3 1(4) [Suppl],
S34, April, 1988.) The authors conclude that "fish-oil supplements in patients
with Raynaudís may improve tolerance to cold exposure and delay the onset
of vasospasm." This report, therefore, supports the main point of the earlier
analysis, that logically related noninteractive literatures are potential
sources of new knowledge.